Bradley Says He’ll Veto Tax on Entertainment : Budget: Mayor says the council’s 10% levy on tickets to movies and sporting and theatrical events would hurt families and the poor.

Mayor Tom Bradley said Tuesday that he would veto the 10% entertainment tax that the City Council voted to levy on most movies and sporting and theatrical events citywide.

“The entertainment tax is so unfair to the poor and to the families of this city that I couldn’t conceive that the council would pass it,” Bradley said.

“We must try to keep families together,” Bradley said. “One means they use for entertainment is to take their children . . . to the movies. To be hit with a 10% tax just for trying to get a little enjoyment out of life is absolutely unacceptable. I will veto that entertainment tax if it comes to me.”

Bradley’s comment on an interim council budget action came as lawmakers waited uneasily for what many of them expect will be one of the heaviest lobbying efforts of the year, by the combined forces of professional sports and the entertainment industry.

“It’s outrageous that the entertainment capital of the world would put a tax on entertainment,” said Tim Warner, president of the National Assn. of Theater Owners of California, which represents the operators of 2,300 movie screens statewide.

“The moviegoing public will be outraged,” he said, echoing the remarks of other industry executives and setting the tone for the campaign. Unless the tax is defeated, the additional costs will be passed on to ticket buyers, said entertainment executives contacted Tuesday.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s budget-writing team, said that if Bradley vetoes the measure, “he’ll have to face the music and explain just how he intends to balance this budget.” Yaroslavsky added, “I don’t understand why he would . . . veto a tax that will enable us to keep cops on the streets.”

Council members, who tentatively approved the measure late Monday by an 8-4 vote, the minimum required, reported just a trickle of complaints on Tuesday. But council members said they believe opposition is building in Westwood, Hollywood, Century City, Chavez Ravine and other entertainment hubs in the city.

“They’ll be calling, I’m sure,” said Councilman Richard Alatorre.

Warner and others in the business, who have killed similar taxes elsewhere in California during the past five years, said Tuesday they have begun to organize a coalition of theater owners, movie studios, sports teams, live theater operators, music promoters and other business groups to fight the tax.

“I think the tax is counterproductive,” said Fred Rosen, chairman of Ticketmaster. “Sometimes these people forget who they are working for. Life is tough enough without the city trying to take away people’s ability to enjoy themselves.”

Ramifications from the tax could be worldwide. Mayor Bradley’s office was contacted Tuesday by the organizers of the World Cup soccer games, who asked if the tax would affect the city’s bid to be host of the annual games in 1994.

That remained unclear Tuesday, as did other elements of the tax. The one-sentence City Council measure spawned many questions. City analysts said it would probably extend to cover charges at bars and nightclubs, but those venues were not included in the original estimates that the tax would raise $15 million. Likewise, the tax would probably apply to strip shows and even mud wrestling, though the city does not yet have any mechanism for collecting a tax from such businesses.

Also being questioned was the exemption for nonprofit organizations, such as college football and theater at the Music Center. City analysts said shows such as “Phantom of the Opera,” performed by a moneymaking company at a nonprofit venue, would be taxed. City Council members disagreed.

“We’re going to scream loudly and state our case,” said Dan Chernow, vice president of Pacific Theatres Corp., one of the largest movie theater chains in the Southland. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to court.”

Movie operators have waged successful legal battles against such taxes in Fresno, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga and other cities. The issue usually turns on First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, according to Warner and others who have been involved in the court fights.

But the Los Angeles city attorney has expressed a legal opinion that the Los Angeles tax would be upheld, because it is more broad-based than similar laws in other communities.

Some council members privately said they might welcome a legal challenge that would take the matter out of their hands and allow them to rescind the tax without losing too much face.

The council has already bowed to pressure from another special interest group--cable television operators--by killing a proposed 10% tax on that medium, proposed by Bradley, in favor of the live entertainment levy.

The cable operators applied a full-court lobbying press at City Hall, spending between $500,000 and $1 million on radio, newspaper and cable television advertising, and 100,000 pieces of mail sent to council members in hopes of defeating the tax proposal.

The council has until June 1 to turn over its version of the budget to the mayor, who then has five days to veto it. The budget will take effect in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The entertainment tax was proposed to help close a projected $177-million deficit. The City Council approved about $100 million in budget cuts and $80 million in new taxes, including the entertainment levy. While the council rejected Bradley’s proposal to impose a tax on cable television bills, it retained the mayor’s proposed real estate transfer fee hike, which would raise $52 million.

The council also restored to the budget about $25 million in programs that Bradley had proposed cutting, including 400 police officer positions, an after-school recreation program for 10,000 latchkey children and funding to keep parks and libraries open.

Ticket Levy

Here are some selected ticket costs under the 10% admissions tax on movies, sporting and theatrical events adopted Monday by the L.A. City Council. It would apply to events within the city of Los Angeles. Mayor Bradley has said he would veto the tax.

EVENT CURRENT PRICE TAX PRICE WITH TAX Dodgers $10/$7/$5 $1/70/50 $11/$7.70/$5.50 Clippers $10 to $225 $1 to $22.50 $11 to $247.50 Raiders $33/$22/$15 $3.30/$2.20/$1.50 $36.30/$24.20/ $16.50 “Phantom of the $50/$45/$37.50 $5/$4.50/$3.75 $55/$49.50/$41.25 Opera” at Ahmanson Theatre at Ahmanson Theatre Pacific Theatre* $6.50 65 $7.15 walk-in Pacific Theatre* $4.50 45 $4.95 drive-in AMC Theatres* $7 70 $7.70

* average adult admission